1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for filling a plastic container having a neck, and to the attachment of a capsule thereon, in a bottling installation, wherein the capsule is of plastic deformable material, with substances enclosed therein in a solid, liquid or pourable condition, which are to be dispensed into the plastic container. First, the plastic container is filled in an aseptic manner and afterwards the container neck is sealed with a membrane, whereupon the capsule is attached onto the membrane, and a cap or closure is placed over the capsule onto the container neck. The capsule is manufactured of two aluminium films which are welded to one another, wherein the lower film forms a deep drawn receiver space, and the upper, covering aluminium film is planar, so that both films together have a planar edge around the receiver space.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Containers, in which a substance is located, to which further substances must be added before consumption, are increasingly offered on the market. This concept has one advantage that the substances which must finally be added into the fluid and which to some extent are light-sensitive, are also supplied on the container, packaged in capsules, so that the substances which are to be dispensed into the fluid located in the container, are not applied into the fluid until the user applies them. This system has been provided successfully today for the most varied of dairy mixing products, pharmaceutical preparations, vitamin-enriched drinks, and the like.
The capsules, which are used with this, are present in different forms on the market and are also manufactured in different manners. For example, a method for manufacturing capsules, as may be applied here, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,649. With these capsules, two aluminium films are added over one another, the lower film deep drawn, so that a receiver space forms, in which the substance to be dispensed is filled, in a liquid, solid or free-flowing condition. The second aluminium film is welded thereover. This film thus remains absolutely planar. The two films which are to be connected to one another are supplied in rolls, and the capsules are thus manufactured in a coherent manner as endless strips. These endless strips may then be cut in arcs, or the capsules may be pushed directly out of these strips.
In many cases of application, the fluid filled into the container must be aseptically filled and subsequently sealed directly by way of a membrane. With different methods used today, the capsules are inserted into the caps or closures by suitable handling machines and these closures are charged with the capsules delivered to the bottler. This is extremely problematic, since this is not in accordance with the logistics. In principle, the capsules in the plastics-processing companies must be inserted directly in the vicinity of the injection molding machines, since otherwise the extremely complex closures must be individualized again in special, very expensive handling machines, aligned and thereafter the capsules inserted and secured therein. The plastics-processing companies are usually not equipped for this purpose. Added to this is the fact that with this method, there exists the danger that the capsules become leaky and at the point in time at which the closure gets onto the filled containers, the contents of the capsules have already experienced a quality reduction or even a complete decomposition. This problem has been recognized and accordingly a method developed, as is known from PCT International Publication WO 2006/056082. With this method, two possibilities are offered, specifically in the case with which the capsule formation is effected directly on the bottle neck. With the second solution, which is of particular interest here, the capsule is placed onto the first membrane and there connected. It has been suggested to weld the capsule onto the already present membrane in the container neck region. This method has been found to be relatively slow, and also has been found to be extremely critical to realize a second welding of the capsule to the membrane over an already present welding between the container neck and the first membrane, without the first welding thereby becoming damaged.
In order to avoid this problem, installations have been changed, so that the capsules are bonded on the first membrane in turn only in the region above the container neck, by way of a foodstuff-allowable adhesive. Although the result was satisfactory, this method too does not permit an increased production speed, and also the adhesive has led to a large dirtying of the bottling installations.